SIGNAL BUTTE, A PREHISTORIC NARRATIVE IN THE 



HIGH PLAINS 



By W. IX STRONG 



Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology 



In western Nebraska, near the Wyoming border, is a most unusual 

 mesa. Located on the edge of the rough Wildcat Range, it repre- 

 sents an isolated fragment of the old High Plains surface that once 

 stretched eastward to the Missouri River. Forces of erosion have 

 dissected this once uniformly sloping plateau, leaving isolated bad- 

 land areas intersected by stream valleys or dry water courses. Such a 

 remnant is Signal Butte, which owes its peculiar significance to the 

 long human record it has preserved. On its flat summit (fig. 69), 

 where erosion was stopped long ago by a layer of hard, calcareous cap 

 rock, is now an 8-foot earth cap deposited mainly by eddying winds. 

 In this deposit occur three distinct prehistoric levels of human occupa- 

 tion. Succeeding each other in time like the chapters of a book, these 

 horizons present a story of early man in the western plains. 



As a result of the previous year's reconnaissance at this site * more 

 extensive excavations were undertaken in June, 1932, with the kind 

 permission of the owner, E. S. Simpson. The field party consisted of 

 the writer, Messrs. Wedel, O'Heeron, Kirby, Daniels, and Swanson, 

 and the cook, Leo Lennear. Mrs. Strong assisted in an unofficial ca- 

 pacity. On June 2j the Laboratory of Anthropology of Santa Fe, 

 N. Mex., joined in the work, being represented by four holders of 

 fellowships — Messrs. Fenton, Holmes, Love, and Wilder. 



The earth cap on top of the butte was staked into 5-foot squares, and 

 a series of trenches was carried through it to the undisturbed gravel or 

 cap rock. The earth was removed a square at a time and level by level, 

 and was screened to prevent loss of artifacts (fig. 70). Owing to 

 strong winds the work of digging, screening, and mapping was ex- 

 tremely difficult, the dust swirling in clouds and blinding the workers. 



The thin middle level (fig. 71) proved to be lacking in pottery and 

 distinct from both upper and lower levels in its limited artifact con- 

 tent. A medium-sized barbed and stemmed stone point (fig. 72, m) 

 was its most distinctive type. An important discovery was the oc- 

 currence of silt, sand, and gravel deposits directly underlying the low- 

 est living level (fig. 71). These were obviously laid down at a period 



'Explorations and Field-work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1931, pp. 151- 

 158, IQ32 



69 



